10 Things You Didn’t Know about: Swansea City

West Ham face Swansea on Saturday in another big game for both clubs, here are 10 facts about West Ham’s opponents this week:

# 1 Swansea City were founded as Swansea Town in 1912, the club became Swansea City in 1969 to signify the areas’ new City status.

# 2 Swansea’s first game as a professional club came in September 1912 against local rivals Cardiff City, the club’s first season as a professional club was a successful one ending the season with a Welsh Cup win.

# 3 Swansea Town became founder members of the new Third Division in 1920.

# 4 Swansea were very nearly West Ham’s opponents in the FA Cup Final in 1964, they were beaten by Preston North End in the Semi Final by a dubious penalty and a 40-yard wonder strike.

# 5 Swansea’s record scorer is Ivor Allchurch who scored 166 league goals in two spells between 1947 and 1968. Allchurch was a Welsh international who held the record for most caps (68) and most goals (23) until they were beaten by Joey Jones and Ian Rush respectively.

# 6 Andre Ayew is the most expensive player to be bought by Swansea and the third most expensive ever sold by the club.

# 7 Wilfred Milne holds the record for the most league appearances for the club; 586 between 1920 and 1937. An uncompromising left back, Milne had to wait until his 501st game for the Swans before notching his first goal.

# 8 Perpetual caretaker manager Alan Curtis is 10th on the list of most league appearances for the Swans. Curtis has served the club as caretaker manager 3 times including twice in the last two seasons. He has also filled several roles in the backroom staff and currently holds the post of Loan Player Manager at the club.

# 9 Swansea have won the League Cup once, the Football League Trophy twice and the Welsh Cup 10 times. They have qualified for Europe 8 times, 7 times through the Cup Winners’ Cup and once through the Europa League. The Club’s record win came in a 12-0 hammering of Maltese side Sliema Wanderers in 1982.

# 10 The clubs have played each other 64 times; West Ham winning 31, Swansea 18, with 15 draws. Swansea beat West Ham 4-1 in the last Saturday game at the Boleyn in 2016. West Ham have lost one of the last six meetings between the clubs and have won the last 3.